Funding in process for pair of Holmes County programs

On Monday, Aug. 4 at the Old Jail meeting room in Millersburg, the Holmes County commissioners discussed two grant funding opportunities that will be dedicated to two separate projects within the Holmes County borders.

The first was a resolution authorizing the Holmes County Engineer to apply for the Ohio Mid-Eastern Governments Association Regional Transportation Planning Organization Capital Allocation Program.

According to the commissioners, this resolution seeks grant funding to further Phase II of the Mohican Valley Trail located in western Holmes County.

Commissioner Dave Hall noted that this is a pre-application for the grant funding that will be applied toward the Mohican Valley Trail.

“We got Phase I paid through this program and now (Holmes County engineer Chris Young) wants to go after this,” Hall said. “It’s about preparing for about a 1-1/2 process of getting the grant. Chris has the design, and now it’s a matter of getting all of the ducks in a row through the grant process. This won’t be the only grant funding he goes after for the project.”

The second resolution authorized the Holmes County commissioners to prepare and submit an application to participate in the Governor’s Office of Appalachia Program and to execute contracts as required.

This grant would provide financial assistance for equipment and capital improvements for the Jackson Street Sidewalk Project in Millersburg.

This is considered a priority need for the community of Millersburg and is a qualified project under the GOA program.

According to Arnold Oliver, Holmes County planning commissioner, the Holmes board of commissioners had previously authorized the grant for the sidewalk project last year, but since then, the price tag for the project has changed, thus the need to alter the plan.

“The previous request to the Governor’s Office of Appalachia was for $112,000,” Oliver said. “That is being bumped up to $1217,427, and it also changes the total (project cost) to $297,330. It’s adding a little bit more money into it, and that is going to help us to cover the engineering cost that we have with that.”

Oliver said the county has secured W.E. Quicksall & Associates to do the design on the project, and the company is currently doing the work to begin construction of the project in the spring of 2026.

Hall said it was good judgment by Oliver to reach out to the commissioners once the shortfall in the funding was realized.

He said that it gave the county time to reach out to GOA to secure the additional funding necessary to proceed with the sidewalk project.

Oliver said OMEGA had reduced the amount it could provide, creating the deficit, and the county was concerned about not being able to properly cover the engineering costs.

“This will make us whole,” Oliver said.

Hall said GOA has discretionary funds that helped make up the difference in the total.

Commissioner Joe Miller asked Oliver if Quicksall would be paid from these funds, and Oliver said that while some funds would move in that direction, the majority of the funding for the engineering and planning expenses would come from a $25,000 grant from Appalachian Community Funds.

“OMEGA is asking us to use that first for the engineering expenses,” Oliver said. “They’d like us to burn that as soon as possible because they believe the state is asking for those funds to be spent down.”

Regardless of how the funds are spent, 2026 should see Historic Downtown Millersburg get a new sidewalk project that should only enhance its ability to draw people into the county.